A blind man is a central character in today’s message. The blind man, a misfit of society, is my hero. This blind man should be seen as one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history! He seeks to undo a thousand years of discrimination! The blind man is the Rosa Parks of Jesus’ day. Just as she refused to give up her seat, so the blind man refused to be silent when Jesus was passing by. Let me explain….
In Luke 18 people are coming to Jesus with faith (or lack of). Luke 18 is filled with surprises: those that seem far away from God are near and those that seem like they should be near are far away. God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of misfits! I love a quote by Hubert Humphrey. The quote is about the moral test of government but I am changing the quote from “government” to “Christianity”: “…the moral test of [Christianity] is how [people of faith treat] those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”